Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Sapphire and Opal

Pannu dove toward the darker shape and landed in the lee of her body. If anything, she seemed to have grown since the fall. Impossibly, her hide had changed, as well. There was a metallic, yet opalescent sheen to the deep blue-green scales, now.
   He carefully lifted one eyelid, and immediately dropped it. Her eyes had changed, too. The electric blue of Crossing Day had covered the whites of her eyes.
   And still, they did not move.
   He put a talon under her nares, but dragons did not possess the tiny hairs necessary to feel such a small thing as breath. He tucked his head up under the foreleg nearest him, to listen for her heartbeat.
   Pannu slumped to his keel next to her, earflap stubbornly plastered to her ribcage. Come on, Onnu, my Queen. Come back to me. Please, please, please, come back!
   Tears streamed down his cheek as he openly wept. She had to live, she just had to!
   He heard gasps, and wings, but heeded none of it. His attention was focused on the scales beneath his earflap.
   Heavy footsteps thudded toward them fast enough for one eye to flick toward the crowd that was gathering. The tears flowed faster, but he wouldn't give up now.
   Not even to console Dragonfriend.
   The ogre slammed down on his knees at her head and skidded into her, slapping her cheeks and bawling loudly. "Wake up! Wake up! You can't leave now! I'm not supposed to outlive you!"
   "Ye might try praying, ya know."
   Pannu glanced at the grey furgoyle.
   "She told us not to look to dragons for miracles and such, did she not?" Liam reminded them. He folded his paws behind his back. "Seems to me this is a fine time for a miracle."
   Pannu's eyes slid closed, tear tracks shining in the morning light. He didn't have the words to ask any way but please, God, bring her back.
   Dragonfriend wept in tongues, for he, too, was speechless.
   Liam wasn't much of a leader, but he said a simple prayer that included both dragons, and the assembled kin said "amen" at the end.
   Into the silence following the amen, twin gasps rasped through dry, parched throats. Twinned spines arched up off the ground in tandem. Their heads flopped once, nearly knocking their heads together, and they groaned. Their keels shuddered with uneven breaths, bellies quivering.
   Onnu was the first to wobble upright, onto her keel, and growl "damn," with more weariness than anger. Her head lolled inches from the ground.
   "Feels like it," Trey rasped. He staggered roughly vertical and glared at her. His head didn't make it very far off the ground, either.
   Onnu glared right back. She stumbled into a rough approximation of standing and took the two steps to reach his side. "Next time ask nicely, would ya?"
   Her legs gave way, but she wouldn't break eye contact. "That was dirty pool, old man."
   Nose to nose, the two Elder Dragons, as they would be called by the smaller kin, battled something the rest of the assembled kin could not fathom.
   :Now look what you did. I've got ye stuck in my head forever. Used to be that was only Above.:
   :I didn't hear you complaining.:
   :How far does this blasted telepathy go?:
   His head swayed back. :Are you telling me to leave?:
   :Not in so many words. I'd just like to think my own thoughts, without worrying they're yours. And is this gonna happen with Dwayne someday?:
   :Dunno. You gonna boink him too?:
   :Not unless she comes for a visit. Can you two cut it out? It's nighttime over here.:

   The Elder dragons physically present looked like they'd been whacked in the back of the head with a board.
   :AND WHY ARE MY SCALES ALL SPARKLY?:
   Trey and Onnu burst into laughter.
   :We'll tell you in the morning, whenever that is. Go back to sleep.: Onnu fought back the giggles.
   :So, what, we've got twin telepathy, but for triplets?: Trey grumbled.
   :Private channel maybe. Now shush, I'm trying to sleep.:
   Electric blue eyes shone with merriment, until she actually looked at Trey. "Hey, when did you get all... opal...y..?"
   "Probably about the same time you got all metallic and pearly," he snorted.
   "I what?" She arched her neck to look at herself, and sure enough, she looked like she'd been given some fancy sportscar paint job.
   "Did... did falling make all of this, too?" Amber Quill asked.
   The Elder Dragons glanced at each other, and away. "Probably more likely the landing that did it," she laughed.
   "You did say that dragons made the Holds," Liam said.
   Dragonfriend wiped his eyes enough to look at her hide, and smiled. He gave it an appreciative slap that she barely felt. "Looks good, ol' gal!"
   "Thanks. Think I'll keep it."
   He was just so happy she was alive, he let her wry humor slide. He hugged as much of her head as he could wrap his massive arms around.
   "Heyyy, did you have a growth spurt? No fair! I already can't hug you properly!"
   "Did I?" She looked up and around for Pannu.
   "Looks like it, yeah. The size you are now, you could've made any of the other Holds single... paw... edly..?"
   She laughed again. "I think what I've got are close enough to hands to call them that. Don't hurt your brain trying to make up new words." Trey's digits were closer to paws than hers, but she was tasked with far finer work than he was. That, and she still wanted to try her talons at painting, once they found a way.
   "So," Dragonfriend said into the pause, "how long do you think it'll take to get you up and at 'em again? Do we need to bring the kids here, or..?"
   Onnu groaned internally. Externally, she tested her footing. Her knees and elbows held, for the time being, but she couldn't say for how long. She tottered a few steps, gave an experimental hop, and found a weakness she did not like.
   "I'm afraid it will take at least a day, and some food, to recover."
   Pannu leapt to his feet. "Food I can handle!"
   "Hatchlings first!" she ordered as she dropped to the ground again. There was more distance between her and Trey, which wasn't a bad thing, to her mind.
   "Right! I'll be back in a flash!"
   Some of the smaller kin left with Pannu, while others opted to stay with Onnu and the stranger. They didn't trust him; especially since he'd just pulled their dragon from the sky.
   The two Elder Dragons eyed each other across the barren ground, wrestling with the probability of spending the next day or three together.